One of the secrets of life

Richard Glover writes today about the European travel disruptions:

One woman from Birmingham told the Herald midweek that she was staggered when informed she might have to wait a fortnight before she could travel home: “I passed out, just fainted, from the sheer shock,” she said.

Really? The news was so unexpected she was rendered unconscious? Is Sydney Airport now like the scene of a Jim Jones massacre — scores of people flat on their back mumbling, “the horror, the horror”?

Personally, I feel like fainting when told that flying is possible: me and 400 people inserted into a metal tube and then hurled into the sky in the expectation we will be served very small packets of peanuts and then land, some hours later, in a different country.

I like that last paragraph in particular.   I think I may have said this before here, but like Richard, I have never gotten over the technological wonder that is flying.   Yet I don’t think that I would like a job that involved flying so often that it did become routine and I no longer reflected on how improbable it is that I am having a drink while hurtling higher than Everest through thin, instantly asphyxiating air of Antarctic temperature from which I am separated by bits of not-so-thick perspex and aluminium skin, all while watching some crappy movie.   (Well, mostly crappy.  The only exception I’ve experienced to the normal rule that an inflight movie can never be absorbing  was Shakespeare in Love.  Yes, I felt a bit teary by the end, but then maybe that was partly the effects of jet lag too.  This was especially remarkable given that I was viewing it on one of those old blurry projector systems.)

I imagine that too much flying is probably like living beside a beautiful Australian beach, which I did for a couple of years some time ago.  At one level you can still appreciate the beauty, but there’s no doubt it does become less of a wonder over time.   I certainly remember that the longer I lived there, the inclination to go for a swim got more and more put off  until the most perfect of weather conditions.   No, it’s better to have the enjoyment of going there with just enough frequency that it never completely loses novelty.

So this is one of Opinion Dominion’s secrets of life:  know enough to be impressed by flight, but if you start doing it so much that you no longer get at least a bit excited by the prospect, start doing it less.

Top marks for Brisbane house

Dezeen » Blog Archive » Hill End Ecohouse by Riddel Architecture

Don't be put off by the fact that it's called an "eco house".  This is a very cool looking residence, built in a very innovative, or at least rarely attempted, way.  What's more, it's in my home town and it has made slick design/architecture website Dezeen.  I'm very impressed.

The dulcet tones return

For those who just can't enough of William Shatner's unique way of mauling a song in a completely unselfconscious fashion, here''s the latest example hot off Youtube:

Whales and iron

Whale poop is vital to ocean's carbon cycle - life - 22 April 2010 - New Scientist

Saving endangered baleen whales could boost the carbon storage capacity of the Southern Ocean, suggests a new study of whale faeces. Whale faeces once provided huge quantities of iron to a now anaemic Southern Ocean, boosting the growth of carbon-sequestering phytoplankton.

So says Stephen Nicol of the Australian Antarctic Division, based in Kingston, Tasmania, who has found "huge amounts of iron in whale poo". He believes that before commercial whaling, baleen whale faeces may have accounted for some 12 per cent of the iron on the surface of the Southern Ocean.

Handy to know.

Considering Heaven, again

Heaven: A fool's paradise - Faith, Opinion - The Independent

Johann Hari review the Lisa Miller book about the history of heaven, about which I have commented recently.

While he is an atheist, he at least gives us more detail of Miller's argument about the Jewish development of the concept. It's interesting, but I don't have time to comment more right now.

A bit out of the blue?

Japan proposes sharp cut in minke whale catch quota in Antarctic Sea › Japan Today

Japan has proposed catching up to 440 southern minke whales each year for what it calls research purposes in the Antarctic Ocean, down from 935 at present, sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday. Japan hopes to resume full-fledged whaling in its coastal waters in return for the proposed quota reduction in the Antarctic Sea, the sources said.

How many (and what type of) whales do they expect to catch in their coastal waters?

Way to attract young voters, Tony!

No more dole, Tony Abbott warns the under-30s | The Australian

Six of the attendees confirmed yesterday that Mr Abbott had raised
the idea of banning welfare payments for young people to encourage them
to fill the thousands of jobs emerging in states such as Western
Australia and Queensland.

"He said he was thinking more and more about it, with a view to formulating something on it," said one of the participants, who asked not to be named.

Another recalled: "He definitely said it was something he was considering as a policy."

Maybe Tony is getting kickbacks from the ALP's advertising agency. They come up with their fantasy quotes for the next campaign; Tony then makes them real.

Good question

Environmental Health Perspectives: Will Ocean Acidification Erode the Base of the Food Web?

Strange lack of knowledge

Seoul warns on nuclear talks if North linked to sinking - ABC News

South Korea says it now appears that an external explosion possibly
caused by a torpedo ripped the warship in two.

Seoul is warning that if North Korea is found to have been involved
it will take the issue to the United Nations Security Council for
possible sanctions.

I find it hard to believe that South Korea does not know the truth of how this happened yet.

Bring me the bucket

1 in 10 revelers plan on consuming more than 40 units of alcohol in a single evening | e! Science News

It's all about heavy drinking when out on the town in the UK. The report contains this bit of information that would suggest letting people know their BAC is not a good way to get them to drink less:

Just over half (51%) of the people who reported feeling drunk at interview said they intended to drink more alcohol that night. The researchers also found that when individuals were informed about their blood alcohol level, it was more likely to encourage them to drink (nearly 1 in 4) than to reduce their alcohol consumption that night (less than 1 in 25). Bellis said, "Commercial use of breathalyzers to encourage individuals to drink more has already been attempted in some bars in the UK. As such technologies become more easily accessible there is a real danger it will further increase alcohol consumption."

Oh well. I can always thank a stomach that is more than ready to throw up after its allocated share of alcohol for ensuring I am in absolutely no danger of ever going out to attempt 40 units of alcohol in a night. On the assumption a bottle of wine is about 7 standard drinks, I'm not sure I've even reached 10 or 12 in an evening without vomiting. ( Just thought I would share that with you.)

Fire and ice

Iceland reminds us nature is boss. - By Christopher Hitchens - Slate Magazine

Some interesting background stuff about Iceland here from Hitchens, of all people.

Bad volcano

How an Icelandic volcano helped spark the French Revolution | World news | The Guardian

Interesting article last week in The Guardian giving a short history of the disastrous effects of the big Icelandic volcanic eruption of 1783 - 1784.

What next??

Dinner is the theater as food paparazzi converge - latimes.com

The LA Times has an amusing and surprising report on the trend for people to photograph their food. It's starting to annoy some restaurants so much they have a "non flash only" policy.

But, here's the most ridiculous digital photo development I have heard:

Camera manufacturers are joining the trend. Nikon, Olympus and Sony sell cameras that offer "cuisine" or "food" settings, which adjust to enhance colors and textures on close-ups.

How come they haven't come up with a "shower/bedroom flesh tone" setting for men, then? Would be used more often, I bet.

And now to reveal my hypocrisy: I must admit I have taken a few food photos over the years, but - I think - only in Japan, where it has novelty value and presentation is extremely important. No, that's different from taking photos of food in your local restaurant - honest.

Another explanation of the "missing heat"issue

Tracking the energy from global warming

It's quite a discrepancy they've got going since 2005.  For what's it's worth, my hunch would be that it's a problem both with ocean heat content calculations (being a bit too low) and satellite measurements (being a bit too high.)

All about that coffee

From Dung to Coffee Brew With No Aftertaste - NYTimes.com

This article in the New York Times explains all you would ever need to know about the civet poo coffee business of South East Asia.

I think I'll pass, thanks.

Bad time to be in the vitamin business

Vitamins linked to breast cancer

A major study has revealed that women who take a daily multi-vitamin
pill are nearly 20 per cent more likely to develop breast cancer.

Given the bad publicity that many vitamin supplements have been accruing over the last 5 years or so, I wonder if sales have been significantly affected.

Won't always love you-ou-ou-ou-ah-won't-always etc

Whitney Houston, LG Arena, Birmingham - Reviews, Music - The Independent

It's pretty rare to find such a scathing review of a pop concert, but here it is.

Actually, the Guardian's reviewer from the same concert thinks that there is a bit of an unfair anti-Whitney bandwagon developing, as most reviews said she was OK on some songs. But, there is this:

They say Houston behaved oddly, chatting about nothing in particular for minutes on end, took a 15-minute break only half a dozen songs in, and had trouble reaching some of her high notes.

She does indeed appear to be regularly (see the comments below about the next concert) making a spectacular hash of the famous climax of "I will always love you", as you can see here. It's doubly excruciating because of the long, long break she takes before attempting it, and the whoops and encouragement given by her (not very British sounding) fans.

In fact, if you watch any Youtubes clips of the Birmingham concert, the enthusiasm of the audience is, somewhat puzzlingly in the circumstances, quite high.

The next concert she gave was at Nottingham, and the reviewer writes this:

However, Houston's rendition of the ultimate schmaltz anthem "I Will Always Love You" must have tested even her most loyal followers. It's a challenging ballad, not least if you've been doing extraordinarily damaging things to your upper body for several years. Her voice wheezes and grates through the high notes. There are attempts to plaster over the cracks with octave changes and smiles, but mid-song she stops, sighs and turns around to compose herself. She does finish the number, in a way, but it isn't spectacular and Houston, frozen, knows it. A momentary silence is pierced by the sound of a child crying in the stalls. Quite why left this song to the end is bewildering.

But the on-stage behaviour is perhaps worth seeing on its own:

The songs include moments of genuine bonkersness. During "Saving All My Love for You" she stoops to moisturise her ankles and on several occasions appears to be singing to her shoes.

All a bit sad, in its way.

Unusual holiday destination noted

Reunion Island

It's not often on Getaway that I notice a story on a holiday destination I have never really heard of before, but this week they did an item on Reunion Island, and I really couldn't recall ever seeing anything on TV about this place.

It certainly looks like a spectacular destination for volcano viewing and rugged, green scenery. And with a French heritage, it sounds like quite an exotic destination.

Where's my lotto entry for tonight...

That Catholic issue

There were two interesting articles by a Jesuit, James Martin, in Huffington Post recently about the Catholic sex abuse issue. The best one is about homosexuality not being the "cause" of it. It ends with a comment made by the Pope himself indicating that he doesn't believe that either. The arguments are basically the same as I indicated in my post earlier this week.

His other article, arguing that "it's not about celibacy" either, is less strong. He puts up a strong defence of why celibacy is valued by the Church, but it doesn't sit well with this crucial line in his homosexuality article:

Pedophilia, say experts, is more a question of a stunted (or arrested) sexuality, more a question of power, and more a question of proximity (among many other complicated psychological factors). Simply put, being gay does not make one a pedophile.

Um, doesn't celibacy for men who have (presumably, in many cases) entered into celibacy as virgins (or at least with little in the way of long lasting sexual relationships) just about guarantee a "stunted or arrested sexuality"?

The fact that Catholic priest's rate of abuse is not so bad when compared to society at large is still no reason for believing that removal of celibacy would make it less likely. (I suspect, on the other hand, that with married clergy other forms of sexual scandal would increase, such as affairs with the spouse's friends, and allegations of spouse abuse, etc. But such scandal is less harmful than child abuse.)

Not so good news for Europe

Get ready for decades of Icelandic fireworks - environment - 16 April 2010 - New Scientist

Volcanologists say the fireworks exploding from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano on Iceland, which is responsible for the ash cloud that is grounding all commercial flights across northern Europe, may become a familiar sight. Increased rumblings under Iceland over the past decade suggest that the area is entering a more active phase, with more eruptions and the potential for some very large bangs.

"Volcanic activity on Iceland appears to follow a periodicity of around 50 to 80 years. The increase in activity over the past 10 years suggests we might be entering a more active phase with more eruptions," says Thorvaldur Thordarson, an expert on Icelandic volcanoes at the University of Edinburgh, UK. By contrast, the latter half of the 20th century was unusually quiet.

As for the question of whether the current eruption could cause significant cooling: apparently, it's not thought big enough yet to do that.

Update: there's a lot more comparative detail on the size of the Iceland volcano (and why it is not close to be being a big climate influence) here.